Chapter 35: Spider's Crawl, Cicada's Transformation (Three)

A flood of spider monsters poured out of the subway entrance, surging toward the three of them.

"Run!"

Li Cheng let out a great shout and sprinted along the west side of the crossroads. Yuan Zhixia and Ye Jiaying followed behind him, faces pale.

Shaa, shaa—

Spider monsters by the thousands gave chase, the sound of their legs moving dense as a downpour; some spiders climbed up the outside of the buildings, leaping down from the heights.

Li Cheng swung his blade, slicing apart the spider monsters raining down. Seeing his side being surrounded bit by bit, he made a snap decision: grabbing the two girls by the back collars of their clothes, he leaped up and landed in the cargo bed of a white pickup truck that was driving past.

The part of the pickup's cargo bed that had been stomped crumbled to flying ash, then after a while gradually restored itself, supporting the weight of the three.

Li Cheng steadied his footing and set Ye Jiaying and Yuan Zhixia down.

The vehicle drove on ahead, gradually leaving the spider monsters behind. Yuan Zhixia's drone, set to auto-cruise and target-tracking, followed along as well and flew back into her hand.

"Safe for now."

The bone blade was once again coated in green sap. Too lazy to wipe it, Li Cheng slashed open the rear-seat window of the truck and glanced at the driver's phone navigation screen.

"This truck's destination is Minghua Road, which happens to overlap with the route toward the police station. We can ride it for about a kilometer and a half, then switch."

Before the word "switch" had even left his mouth, the front of the white pickup caved in sharply, its forward momentum stopping dead.

A colossal giant spider monster, the likes of which had never been seen, stood blocking the center of the crossroads. It raised one leg—several times thicker than a cement pole and bristling with tangled barbs—and stomped down on the white pickup.

The giant spider was hideous and grotesque, its bulk comparable in weight to a heavy truck. Its seven yellow eyes glowed like lanterns; the single eye in the upper-left corner had long been ruptured, a golden arrow embedded inside, a pale gray scab formed around it.

Its body surface was riotously colorful, the hues shifting and flowing like a Rorschach blot. A single glance made one's eyes ache and one's head burn.

Boom!

Fortunately, the Shadow Realm's white pickup that had been stomped immediately drifted and turned; the entire vehicle tore apart, dissolving into a skyful of dust that drifted more than ten meters ahead before restoring itself, chasing after the shadow of the real-world pickup.

As for the three standing in the cargo bed, inertia flung them out.

Ye Jiaying screamed. Even the usually calm Yuan Zhixia stopped thinking midair, closed her eyes, curled her body up, and clutched that drone tightly to her chest.

Fortunately, this was a downtown area; the pickup wasn't moving fast, and there was a green belt right beside them. The three tumbled into the shrubs, rolled some distance, and crushed a large swath of flowers and plants.

Fortunately, the Shadow Realm's matter was slightly less hard than reality's. Ye Jiaying and Yuan Zhixia barely managed to get up, covered in wounds. Li Cheng was also dust-covered, hair in disarray, his gaze locked dead on that ink-colored spider monster.

Boom, boom.

The giant spider monster moved its eight legs, turning around slowly yet in truth swiftly, its seven yellow eyes looking down from above at the three small figures in the shrubs.

All three were deathly pale. The fingers gripping Yuan Zhixia's Glock were bloodless—compared to this spider monster, handgun bullets really were no different from candy beans.

"Get ready to move."

Li Cheng lowered his voice, his peripheral vision sweeping both sides of the road, and saw a sedan driving past the side of the crossroads.

If they could find a chance to board it, there might still be a chance to escape.

The ink-colored giant spider suddenly extended two legs, plunging them squarely into the sedan's undercarriage, and casually flicked it up.

The vehicle, weighing over a ton, was sent flying like a toy, easily knocked aside, flung toward the green belt, and disintegrated into ash midair.

Thick dust obscured his vision. Li Cheng felt every hair on his body stand on end; gripping his companions' collars in both hands, he retreated at top speed.

Boom, boom, boom!

The ink-colored giant spider moved its legs, smashing through the dust curtain at astonishing speed, and its scythe-like chelicerae bit down on the spot where the three had just been standing, shearing off a large chunk of shrub.

The two sides were less than ten paces apart, the disparity in size even more obvious. Li Cheng could almost smell the foul, hot breath gushing from the monster's massive maw.

The ink-colored spider lunged forward again, jaws snapping. With nowhere to dodge, nowhere to retreat, he let go with both hands, shoved his companions backward, and bellowed, "Run!"

He himself swung his blade forward, slashing at the chelicerae.

Clang!

The impact traveled along the bone blade and spread to both arms. Li Sheng instantly felt both hands go numb, no longer part of him, and his whole body was sent flying backward.

The ink-colored spider pressed the attack, swinging two forelegs that came smashing down like siege hammers.

The tangled barbs on the surface of the limbs cut through the air like swords, emitting a sharp whistling "Xiu—".

Li Cheng pivoted on his toes, his whole body skimming low across the ground; dodging the attack, his right mantis-arm bone blade violently sliced into the ink-colored spider's second pair of legs.

Creak—

The ink-colored spider's exoskeleton combined strength with toughness; under the bone blade's full-force cut, it caved in a chunk but did not break.

Li Cheng twisted his waist again, his whole body spinning beneath the spider monster like a top. His left-hand bone blade, carrying his full body weight and rotational inertia, pressed down along the spider's second pair of limbs.

Clang!

The barbs on the limbs flew off one after another, and the limb itself was cut halfway through, spurting green bodily fluid.

Suddenly in pain, the ink-colored spider's mouthparts trembled, emitting a sharp shriek.

Its ferocity surged; it steadied itself on its rear two pairs of legs, and its front two pairs swept in from both sides.

Li Cheng raised his blade to block, but the disparity in strength between them was too great. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his arms, his wrists and forearms feeling as if they were about to snap, and his whole body was sent flying backward.

He couldn't retreat—countless small spider monsters had already caught up; once surrounded, death was certain.

Li Cheng slammed his arms down, driving the bone blade into the ground; the soles of his shoes scraped two tracks across the surface, barely halting his momentum.

Xiu!

The spider monster's third pair of legs on the left hooked in from above, the whistling sound returning.

Li Cheng dodged sideways, simultaneously withdrawing the bone blade and releasing his muscle limits, extending a large number of ant-needle hairs from his arms.

Protected by the needle hairs, he reached out and gripped the spider monster's leg, and using the leg's swinging arc, in the space between a rabbit's leap and a falcon's dive, he climbed and vaulted onto the giant spider's back.

"Catch!"

Yuan Zhixia's voice rang out from not far away. She hadn't actually run far; instead, she pulled a red-and-white packaged eight-treasure porridge can from her backpack and tossed it to Li Cheng on the spider's back.

"Fragmentation grenade! Open and use!"

Yuan Zhixia shouted the reminder, then grabbed Ye Jiaying and sprinted off.

Li Cheng caught the eight-treasure porridge can precisely, popped out the mantis-arm bone blade from his arm again, and hacked at the joint between the giant spider's thorax and abdomen with all his might.

The barbs on the Ink-Colored Spider's back were not as tough as the reverse spines on its walking legs; after several consecutive rounds of slashing, its defenses were broken open and the blade cut into its body, green blood gushing out like a fountain.

suddenly burdened with grave wounds, the Ink-Colored Spider was in so much pain that its whole body convulsed, but this beast, however long it had lived, showed no decrease in ferocity—if anything, it increased—and it actually raised its head, reversed, and slammed into the roadside building, intending to crush Li Cheng to death.

Li Cheng hurriedly peeled off the white plastic lid of the eight-treasure porridge and pulled the ring-pull, and sure enough heard the crisp snap of the striker pin.

He shoved the can into the gash on the Ink-Colored Spider's back, leapt off the spider's back, and tumbled to the ground.

Boom! Boom!

Two consecutive thunderous blasts—the first was the Ink-Colored Spider crashing into the building, the second was the fragmentation grenade exploding.

(End of chapter)